Employees working from home during the coronavirus pandemic claimed some outlandish expenses this year, including pricey exercise bikes, facelifts and private jets.
Emburse, an expense management software company, released a compilation Wednesday of some of the craziest expenses it has seen claimed this year, some of which were actually approved. That included $1,895, which was approved as a contribution for an employee's Peloton Bike under the explanation of “for health and wellness.” On the other hand, a $7,600 expense claim for a facelift was submitted under the category of “repairs and maintenance” but was rejected, despite the pressing need to look one’s best during a Zoom meeting.
Nitin Seth is the co-founder and CEO of Conversive. With over two decades of experience, he is a leading expert in powering rich Conversational Messaging experiences through SMS, WhatsApp, Facebook, and other messaging channels. Recognizing the overwhelming volume of irrelevant messages, Nitin is dedicated to transforming 'messaging chaos' into personalized, meaningful interactions. By leveraging AI and digital technologies, he empowers insurance, financial services, and other industries to create simple, effective, and personable customer engagements.
Joey Pizzolato is a reporter at American Banker, covering all things payments, including stablecoins, agentic AI, buy now, pay later and earned wage access. He is based in New York.
Prior to reporting on payments, Joey spent nearly six years covering auto finance as the editor of Auto Finance News, and has also covered the mortgage and housing industry, bank technology and marketing, state and federal regulation, fraud and the asset-backed securities market.
His work has earned him two Azbee Awards: One for investigative journalism examining the ease at which bad actors can obtain fraudulent employment verification needed to finance automobiles on social networks such as Facebook and Instagram; and one for enterprise news reporting that examined the lasting effects of inflation and COVID-19 pandemic on the subprime auto finance industry. In 2023, he was named a Goldschmidt FRED Fellow by the Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing.
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Some expenses weren’t for working from home, but more about getting out of the house safely. An expense claim for a private jet charter costing over $20,000 was submitted and approved under the explanation of “required to limit COVID exposure for international shoots.” Another travel-related expense claim was $2,500 for a helicopter ride, which was not approved.
The $79 expense claim for a dog crate could perhaps be used for travel at some point when that's safer, but in these times it was more plausibly to provide "crate training [for] a new COVID puppy to not run into Zoom meetings."
Below is an infographic produced by Emburse showing this and several other head-scratching claims:
